Thursday, April 23, 2015
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
milliken@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
William Tungate underwent a baptism by fire as an Ohio National Guardsman deployed for nine days to the April 1993 Lucasville prison riot.
Twenty-two years later, he has been chosen by his corrections-officer peers as the Ohio State Penitentiary Corrections Officer of the Year.
At a May 1 banquet at the Corrections Training Academy in Orient, Ohio, he’ll learn whether he or one of 24 other candidates will become the state corrections officer of the year.
Tungate was a military policeman with the Ohio National Guard’s Austintown-based 838th Military Police Co., when he was assigned to perimeter patrol during the 11-day riot by 450 inmates at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
Nine inmates and a corrections officer were killed and 13 corrections officers were held hostage during that riot, which was the longest fatal prison siege in U.S. history.
Tungate, who was then unemployed, except for his part-time National Guard service, applied for, and got, a job as a corrections officer.
He worked at the Madison Correctional Institution in London, Ohio, before joining OSP upon its opening in 1998.
With a staff of 327, including 217 corrections officers, OSP is known as the Supermax prison. It houses 447 inmates, most of them at the maximum-security level.
As a corrections officer, his goal is to help every inmate or prison staff member he encounters “if I can be a benefit to them in any way,” Tungate said.
Being a corrections officer is rewarding when he can persuade an inmate to pursue education and make positive life changes and “if I don’t see an inmate coming back to prison,” he said.
Corrections officers should be “firm, fair and consistent” in their treatment of all inmates regardless of their crimes or security levels, he said.
“I treat others as I want to be treated myself,” he said. “That’s the fairest way to be,” he observed.
“I mentor new hires, and I try to do the best I can every day,” said Tungate, who also teaches critical incident management.
Tungate recently obtained an associate degree in electronic computer engineering from DeVry University.
After he retires from being a corrections officer, Tungate said he wants to work for the state as a computer network or electronic engineer.
“Bill’s a true professional in his field. He makes great decisions. He has a lot of experience,” said OSP Warden Jay Forshey.
“He represents the best of the corrections officers and our expectations of what we’d like to see in them,” the warden added.
“Officer Tungate goes above and beyond his job duties” in training and mentoring new officers, Forshey said.
Tungate has also provided security-enhancing recommendations on prisoner- movement and restraint procedures, the warden said.
“He displays professionalism all the time,” Laura Gardner, OSP’s public information officer, said of Tungate. “Everybody looks up to him,” she added.
“He’s always willing to help. He never has anything negative to say,” Gardner said of Tungate. “He’s very positive to be around, and people appreciate that.”
Tungate coordinates an annual 42-hospital incident command training exercise at Salem Regional Medical Center, and he participates in OSP’s honor guard at a ceremony every May at the Greater Cleveland Peace Officers’ Memorial.
Having served 13 years with the Army National Guard, he is Boy Scout Troop 6 committee chairman in Salem and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He teaches Scouts working toward technology merit badges.
Tungate lives in the Salem area with his wife, Lori, and sons, Josh, 17; Zack, 14; and Joey, 11.